Music reviews : Michael Jackson and family books: If Michael danced in the studio, it meant that a track sounded right. No matter what, Jackson ensured that the melodies were his own, while Riley sought to merge his trademark New Jack Swing with Quincy Jones’ baroque pop. At one point, L.A. Reid and Babyface were brought in to help produce, but none of their contributions made the final cut. Over 60 songs wound up being written over a period of 18 months. It cost $10 million in total, not counting video costs. When Jackson revealed the final tracklist to Riley, the latter expected to see his name once or twice. Instead, Riley produced six of the 14 songs—arguably all the material that has aged the best. As a result of his contributions, you can convincingly argue that Dangerous is Jackson’s final classic album and the best full-length of the New Jack Swing era. As soon as you pressed play on the tape, Riley’s drums attacked with Scud-era force. “Jam.” The sound of glass breaking, bells reminiscent of LL Cool J’s “Jingling Baby,” funky drums that knock like Clyde Stubblefield was behind the kit, and roaring saxophone licks. The words “you want to get up and jam” are initially buried in the mix, but the vocals are as acrobatic as a highlight reel, so it only made sense that the Chicago Bulls used it in their 1992 championship video. Starring Michael Jordan and Kris Kross, the “Jam” clip became almost as iconic as “Black or White.” Filmed in an abandoned rat-infested armory on the South Side of Chicago, it finds Michael Jackson teaching Jordan how to dance and the other MJ teaching him to hoop. Through the wonders of special effects, Jackson ultimately swishes shots that not even Steph Curry can hit; but not even the greatest dancer of the last half-century can teach Jordan how to dance. Point Jackson.
But if you recall the release of his landmark records, you’ll remember his promotional magic. Everything from the time the first single hit radio stations to when the big video premiered, it was all something out of this world. Technically, that was always the most exciting aspect of a Jackson release. We loved the music, but we loved seeing what he’d do with it – namely his videos, which are arguably just as important as the music itself. (Hey, even Invincible had that delectable “You Rock My World” video.) They’ve tried to recreate that idea – what with the world premieres of tracks here and there – but it will never be the same. So, that leaves us with just the music.
Thriller (1982): Let’s ignore the fact that Thriller is the best-selling album IN THE HISTORY OF THE PLANET or that its album cover is one of the most recognized in music history. Thriller earns its place atop this list because in just nine tracks, it rewrote all the rules. The title track is almost a clichéd Halloween song in 2018, but in its heyday the 14-minute video broke barriers for artists of color. “Billie Jean” was so popular that it forced MTV to not only pay more attention to black artists, but also caused it to shift its programming focus to pop and R&B records. Every single track is instantly recognizable to even novice music fans and the album was so good that it became MJ’s curse – he was never able to top it, so all subsequent releases were slighted by fans and critics. Thriller opened doors for musicians of color, put music videos on the map and made Michael Jackson the greatest performer of all time. Yes, it’s MJ’s best album. Maybe the best album ever.
Michael Jackson family: Mocienne Petit Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s daughter) books are now available in french! For our dutch guests: We komen meer te weten over de vele traumatische ervaringen van de hoofdpersoon, haar depressies en talrijke worstelingen om alle ellende te verwerken en achter zich te laten. De schrijfster geeft ons duidelijkheid door middel van verschillende flashbacks. Mocienne blijft het reilen en zeilen van Michael Jackson voortdurend volgen. Zo komt zijn – vermeende – kindermisbruik voorbij, komen de vele rechtszaken die er rondom zijn persoon hebben plaatsgehad aan bod, zijn twee mislukte huwelijken, zijn metamorfose, de geboorte van zijn drie kinderen en – last but not least – zijn voortijdige dood. Mocienne komt langzaam maar zeker tot de verbijsterende conclusie dat de maffia een grote en destructieve rol in zijn (én haar) leven heeft gespeeld, waarbij dient te worden aangetekend dat zijn familie, en in het bijzonder zijn moeder en vader, in dit opzicht veel te verwijten valt. Tot op heden heeft Mocienne geen enkele medewerking van de familie Jackson gekregen om een DNA-test te doen, teneinde te kunnen bewijzen dat zij wérkelijk Michaels dochter is. Lees het boek hier The dark side of the Netherlands (Volume 2) (Dutch Edition).
